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The Genesis of Aida |
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by Joseph Debrincat |
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First Performances:
24 December 1871, Cairo Opera House, Cairo
8 February 1872, La Scala, Milan
11 October 1877, Royal Opera House, Malta
As Verdi grew older and older, his creative process of composition slowed down considerably. This may be due to various reasons. Some events, which occurred after the première of Don Carlos in 1867, seem to have changed the life of the old man of Busseto. One of the probable reasons was certainly the number of deaths. One of these was the death of his old friend, benefactor and second father, Antonio Barezzi (the father of his first wife). Also during this time the librettist of Ernani, Macbeth, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del Destino, Francesco Maria Piave, suffered a paralytic stroke. Another reason could have been the chaotic developments in the international political situation. All this continued to keep Verdi away from opera composition to the extent that in this period he was dedicating most of his time to farming.
Camille Du Locle, the Director of the Paris Opéra-Comique and joined librettist of Don Carlos, was continually suggesting ideas for new operas to be presented at the Paris Opéra. But, in a letter to Du Locle, Verdi replied that he wasn’t a French composer and kept back from such an idea – “I don’t know whether or not I lack the talent, but certainly my ideas about art are different from those of your country. I believe in inspiration; you believe in construction.” Du Locle did not lose hope and kept on trying to convince Verdi. Various titles were raised and dropped in their correspondence. Among the raised subjects were Meilhac and Halévy’s Froufrou, Moliére’s Tartuffe and a play by the contemporary Spanish playwright López de Ayala. Another subject consisted of a four-page synopsis of an opera to be set in Egypt. In a letter dated May 26, 1870, the subject was greeted with genuine enthusiasm and Verdi asked who the author was. Du Locle responded that he based this subject on a story by Auguste Mariette (Bey). It is, however, believed that the plot of Aida did not originate from Auguste but from his brother Edouard who himself sketched out a novel which he intended to call La fiancée du Nil. Other speculations are that the plot of Aida had been taken from a libretto by the famous eighteenth century librettist, Metastasio, called Nitteti. Mariette suggested to the Khedive of Egypt that it could be made into a splendid opera to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. Originally, the Khedive’s intentions were different – he was thinking of a ‘hymn’ which would inaugurate the Cairo Opera House. This newly built opera house was built to celebrate the Suez Canal. However, Mariette entrusted Du Locle to find an international renowned composer. Obviously Verdi was the first preference but Gounod and Wagner were also on the list. But the idea of an opera to inaugurate the Cairo Opera House had also to be abandoned since by the time Verdi received the libretto (1870), the mentioned opera house had already been opened.
Verdi accepted to compose Aida and to have it ready in six months’ since it had to be premièred at the Cairo Opera House in January 1871. The composer demanded a special fee of 150,000 lire which even Verdi himself thought to be something above the limits. However, this fee was agreed to, on condition that it would be ready in the stipulated time. Du Locle drafted the complete libretto in French. Since Verdi insisted that the opera should be in Italian, he chose Antonio Ghislanzoni to translate the text. The latter was a musical journalist and had already collaborated with Verdi in the revisions to La Forza del Destino, performed at La Scala in February 1869. Verdi himself helped Du Locle to prepare a detailed scenario in dialogue form while keeping as faithful as possible to Mariette’s original. It is worth noting that the actual libretto was much more the product of Verdi’s imagination than Du Locle’s or Ghislanzoni’s. This was a common situation for Verdi although he never assumed full responsibility for a libretto. As a matter of fact, in Italy the librettist was referred to as the poet, while composers like Verdi had a great say in the literary section (the scenario). Besides, traditionally it was the music which was composed first, followed by the lyrics. As a result to all this, in most of Verdi’s operas, one can encounter various instances where Verdi makes use of ‘melismatic’ phrases which were very common in the 16th century madrigal. There are even occasions where elision of syllables had to be done in order to fit the music.
A meeting between Verdi and Ghislanzoni took place in mid-July 1870 where they discussed Du Locle’s scenario. All the details were finalized and Ghislanzoni was sent away in order to start work. A draft soon arrived by post and Verdi requested numerous revisions, cuts and additions. Quite a number of correspondence followed until the deadline. This correspondence proved to be useful in tracing in certain detail the genesis of the opera. So Ghislanzoni was quite often faced with situations where he had to accept Verdi’s imaginative ideas, with the former simply adding poetic touches.
…I’ve thought of something for the consecration scene. If it doesn’t seem appropriate to you (Ghislanzoni), we can try something else. Meanwhile, it seems to me that we might make rather an effective musical scene of this. It would consist of a litany chanted by the priestesses, to which the priests respond. Then a sacred dance with slow, sad music, a short recitative powerful and solemn, like a biblical psalm, then a prayer of two stanzas for the Chief Priest, and repeated by everyone. It should have an air of serenity about it, as different as possible from the other choruses at the end of the first scene and in the second act finale which have a touch of Marseillaise about them.
I think the litanies should be composed – and once again forgive my boldness – of short stanzas, each with long line and one five-syllable line or, perhaps even better so as to be able to say everything, two eight-syllable lines. The five-syllable line would be the Ora pro nobis. So there would be short stanzas of three verses each, six in all, and that would be more than sufficient.
Referring to the final scene of Act Four, Verdi informed Ghislanzoni that although the words were not bad, he wished to express his opinion from the theatrical point of view. Verdi even jotted some rhymeless verses (listed underneath) in order to give him an idea of what he expected. He added that one cannot imagine what a beautiful melody can be made out of such a strange form.
AIDA
E qui, lontana da ogni sguardo
umano
…Sul tuo cor morire (A very emotional line)
RADAMES
Morire! Tu innocente?
Morire!…Tu si bella?
Tu, negli april degli anni
Lasciar la vita?
Quant’io t’amai, no, nol può
dir favella!
Ma fù mortale l’amor mio per te.
Morire! Tu innocente?
Morire! Tu si bella?
Vedi? Di morte l’angelo
etc. etc.
Ghislanzoni responded but Verdi replied: “…I received your verses. They are beautiful, but they aren’t quite right for my purpose. And since you sent them so late, in order to save time, I had already composed the music to the monstrous verses that I sent you.” In other words, Verdi’s jotted text was used although it was later further edited during another personal meeting between the composer and the librettist.
Although this text arrangement was very time consuming, Verdi composed the opera in only four months to five months’ time. Act One was written between late July and mid-August 1870, Act Two was finished in late September, Act Three in mid-October while by mid-November Verdi informed his publisher Giulio Ricordi that he had finished his new opera. He soon started to inquire the remaining balance of the fee.
But the unbelievable happened. On July 19, 1870 France declared war on Prussia, and exactly two months later Prussian forces began the Siege of Paris. Such event froze the première of Aida since the costumes and sets were built in Paris and thus they were now trapped. Consequently, the première had to be delayed by eleven months and Aida was produced on December 24, 1871, only six weeks before the Italian première at La Scala, Milan. Verdi accepted such thing with delight since he had much time to work on the delicate job of orchestration. In fact, Verdi delivered the full score to Ricordi at the end of August 1871, shortly after having made a last minute addition of the aria “O patria mia”.
To the disappointment of Khedive, Ismail Pasha, Verdi decided very early on not to go to Cairo for his Aida’s première. The Khedive invited the leading French and Italian critics to Cairo and Aida was received with great enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Verdi stayed in Italy and concentrated all his energies on the production at La Scala, Milan. As usual, Verdi insisted on having good singers who could guarantee a good performance. It seems that he really emphasized the role of Amneris. In a letter to Ricordi, Verdi stated that: “the voice alone, no matter how beautiful…, is not enough for that role.” Such demands had been made for the role of Lady Macbeth, some twenty-four years earlier. Verdi was also very involved with the details of the mise-en-scène, while offering some advice on how the orchestra ought to be arranged. Regarding the latter, Verdi mentioned that he took this idea from the German composer Richard Wagner, who although of the same age as the former, Wagner was venturing in another more complex type of opera called “Music Drama”.
The Italian première took place on February 8, 1872 at La Scala, Milan under the musical direction of Franco Faccio. For this production, Verdi wrote an Overture to replace the existing Prelude but was discarded before the première. This Overture was given its first European performance on June 4, 1940, in Rome, by the orchestra of the Royal Academy of Santa Cecilia, conducted by Bernardino Molinari. It is now in the family’s safe-deposit box in Rome. However, it seems that it was Toscanini who gave birth to this Overture when he discovered the score still in manuscript form. While obtaining the family’s permission to perform it, he had the score and parts copied at his own expense. Toscanini performed it with the N.B.C. Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast concert from New York on March 30, 1940.
In summation to all this, the Italian première was also hailed as a triumphant success and Verdi was not mistaken when he expressed: “I don’t want to affect modesty with you, but this opera is certainly not one of my worst. Time will give it the place it merits.” |
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